A person sits in a chair next to the Garzweiler lignite opencast mine at the Luetzerath village near Erkelenz, Germany, Tuesday, January 10, 2023. Environmental activists were locked in a standoff with police this week around the hamlet of Luetzerath that's due to be bulldozed for the expansion of a nearby lignite mine. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

Semi-feral, conservation ponies, graze on the salt marsh's of Gower, Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom on September 7, 2022. (Photo by Joann Randles/Cover Images)

Nestled among the cocoa plantations of western Ivory Coast is a gold mine that does not feature on any official maps. It is not run by an industrial mining company, nor does it pay taxes to the central government. The unlicensed mine is a key part of a lucrative business empire headed by the deputy commander of the West African nation's elite Republican Guard, United Nations investigators allege. Here: A gold prospector sits and eats close to a soldier at a gold mine near the village of Gamina, in western Ivory Coast, March 18, 2015. (Photo by Luc Gnago/Reuters)

A cat disrupts between Mexico's Tigres UANL and Real Salt Lake during a quarterfinals match as part of the Leagues Cup 2019 at Rio Tinto Stadium on July 24, 2019 in Sandy, Utah. (Photo by Jeff Swinger/USA TODAY Sports)

At 10,582 square kilometres, the Bolivian salt flats – otherwise known as Salar de Uyuni – are the largest on the planet and contain between 50 and 70% of the world’s lithium reserves. After exploring Chile and Argentina, photographer Joel Santos decided to travel to Bolivia in January 2017 to check the salt flats off his bucket list. With an electrical storm rolling in, Joel and his two travelling companions were the only souls left on the vast flats and captured the eerie flats without a person in sight. (Photo by Joel Santos/Barcroft Images)

A tourist is seen at the Caka Salt Lake in Wulan County, northwest China's Qinghai Province, September 4, 2020. (Photo by Zhang Long/Xinhua News Agency)

A dancer of Potosi's government departament, poses with traditional costumes at the Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat, in Uyuni, Bolivia, on November 7, 2020. (Photo by Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP Photo)

Sam Warren climbs in to a prototype combat vehicle during the PrepperCon expo Friday, April 24, 2015, in Sandy, Utah. Hundreds of survivalists and “preppers” are gathering in the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy for the first annual PrepperCon, featuring demonstrations of underground bunkers, food storage, and armored vehicles. (Photo by Rick Bowmer/AP Photo)